Solid-gas coupling coal-like materials are essential for simulating coal and gas outbursts and the long-term safety study of CO₂ sequestration in coal. However, reported materials still differ substantially from natural coal in mechanical, deformation and gaseous properties; the latter two aspects are common not considered. There is a lack of a definite and quantitative preparation method of coal-like materials with high similarity for future reference. Here, 25 groups of raw material ratios were designed in the orthogonal experiment using uniaxial compression, shearing and adsorption/desorption tests. Experiment results indicated that the coal-like materials were highly similar to soft coals in properties mentioned above. And range analysis revealed the key influencing factors of each mechanical index. The gypsum/petrolatum ratio controls the density, compressive strength, elastic modulus, cohesion and deformation characteristic. The coarse/fine coal powder (1–2 and 0–0.5 mm) controls the internal friction angle and is the secondary controlling factor for compressive strength and elastic modulus. The effect of coal particle size on the sample strength was studied using scanning electron microscope (SEM). When the gypsum/petrolatum ratio increased, the deformation characteristics changed from ductile to brittle. The different failure modes in the samples were revealed. The coal powder content is a key in the gas adsorption/desorption properties and an empirical formula for estimating the adsorption capacity was established. Based on the range analysis of experimental results, a multiple linear regression model of the mechanical parameters and their key influencing factors was obtained. Finally, a composition closely resembling the natural coal was determined, which differs by only 0.47–7.41% in all parameters except porosity (11.76%). Possible improvements and extension to similar materials are discussed. The findings of this study can help for better understanding of coal and gas outburst mechanism and stability of CO₂ sequestration in soft coal seams.

The fracture development and distribution around the deep soft rock roadway are pivotal to any underground design. In this paper, both field investigation and numerical simulation were taken to study the fracture evolution and rock deformation of a coal mine roadway at Kouzidong mine, Fuyang, Anhui Province, China. Based on the borehole imaging technique, we found an asymmetric distribution of the fracture zone in the surrounding rock of the roadway. By analyzing the C value of the fractures in the borehole images,we found that the fracture interval distribution of the surrounding rock of the tunnel, the number of fractures will fluctuate decrease with the increase of the depth. To effectively study the fracture propagation and distribution of the roadway under longwall retreatment and roadway excavation, the global‐local numerical technique was applied via FLAC3D and PFC2D. In the roadway excavation process, fractures were first formed in the shallow section of the roadway and progressively propagated toward the deeper soft rock layer; the main failure mechanism was a tensile failure. During longwall retreatment, fractures continuously developed toward the deeper soft rock layer. However, the failure mechanism transformed to shear failure. From numerical results, it can be seen that the stress concentration at the ribs was released, which led to shear failure at the roof and floor. Due to the extensive tensile cracks in the shallow section, the surrounding rock experienced expansion and fracture. The deep shear failure also induced the formation of the nonadjacent crushing zone and elastic zone, which is in line with the borehole imaging results.